Thursday, January 16, 2014

DIY Foraged Wreath

This post is a little late but oh well ;)I was in Santa Barbara at Christmas time last year, I stopped by my aunt and uncle's house for a visit and found my cousin Julianna crafting. She was making wreaths and planting beautiful individual succulent arrangements. She showed me how to make everything, I left feeling inspired. It was all DIY upcycled, free, foraged and zero waste, very impressive! Since we've never had a holiday wreath on our front door I decided to give it a try, with Juliana's advice of course. Although it's not environmentally friendly my husband insisted on getting a fresh cut tree this year because he loves the scent of a real tree. I hadn't heard of The Living Christmas Company, if I had we would have ordered one of their living trees, DOH! There's always next year.

After we found the perfect tree I asked an employee for trimmings for a wreath. He happily obliged and I was able to help myself to as much as I needed for free. I was closer to being able to make my wreath but still needed some decorations. I looked around our place and found a pretty maroon ribbon that I could reuse for the bow. Then I went on a hike on the mountain (the one outside our front door =) and foraged for holly berries and pine cones. Back at home I knew I needed some type of sturdy ring to tie the greenery on to and to make the classic round wreath shape. I brainstormed a few ideas, first I thought I could cut out an 'O' shape out of a cardboard box, then thought maybe I could bend a metal hanger in to shape. Then a lightbulb went off and realized we have a ten inch tart pan with a removable bottom, the ring part is a perfect ridged metal base to use for my wreath. The veggie twist ties i've been saving for something (anything but landfill!) were finally going to go to good use by using the green ones as fasteners. Supplies in tow I was ready to make my first wreath.First, I cut the trimmings in to more manageable sized pieces approximately six inches long. I fastened the first piece using a green twist tie then made my way around the wreath making sure to cover up each twist tie with greenery as I went around. I used an additional twist tie to make a loop to hang the wreath on. I was ready to decorate, I just placed the pine cones and berries wedging them in between the greenery and twist ties. The final touch was the bow which I tied then tacked in place with a straight pin.This wreath was foraged, free, zero waste and stayed fresh and pretty all December long, I can't wait to make more next year.